Beginnings

By 2006, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was complete. A multinational undertaking which had begun in 1990, the HGP not only produced the sequences of the DNA that make up the human genome, but also led to advances in DNA sequencing technologies and bioinformatics. The Human Microbiome Project (HMP), which grew from the HGP, began in 2007. The research was funded by a $153 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with additional support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The program started with several goals in mind:

Develop a set of reference microbial genome sequences from the human microbiome and begin the preliminary characterzation of the healthy human microbiome

Explore the relationship between disease and changes in the human microbiome

Develop new tools and technology to analyze all the DNA sequences

Create a place to store and share data with others

Create a place to store physical samples of DNA and microorganisms that can be accessed by other researchers

Consider the ethical, legal, and social implications of the research

Scientists began by sampling the microbiome across the bodies of 242 healthy adult volunteers. They took samples from the nose, mouth, stool, skin, and vagina of the volunteers. The scientists resampled the volunteers over the course of 22 months in order to observe how a person's microbiome changes over time. In total, over 11,000 samples were taken.